Israelis Wary Of West Bank Withdrawal In New Poll
Image by getty images
A new survey shows that over the past decade support for Israel leaving the West Bank as part of a potential peace deal with the Palestinians has fallen precipitously over the past decade.
According to the poll, conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, only 36% of Israelis would now back withdrawal from the entire West Bank and Jewish settlements there as part of a negotiated accord. That compares to the 60% support that such a proposition had in 2005.
The survey registered a similar drop in backing for the “Clinton parameters,” former President Bill Clinton’s proposal for a Palestinian state, in which Palestinians would have a capital in east Jerusalem, control the Temple Mount and maintain their own security force on the West Bank. Israel would keep its settlement blocs under that plan. Enjoying 55% backing in 2005, that number has today sunk to 29%.
Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, wrote the result showed “the Israeli public implicitly understands that the Middle East remains a very dangerous and chaotic region.”
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
